January 11

The co-founder of the Wilderness Society is born and two U.S. presidents push conservation.

Jan. 11, 1887:Aldo Leopold, one of America's first great nature writers and the father of wildlife ecology, is born in Burlington, Iowa. Leopold's "Sand County Almanac" becomes a literary classic, and he goes on to co-found the Wilderness Society.

Jan. 11, 1962: In his annual state of the union address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy says, "We also need for the '60s — if we are to bequeath our full national estate to our heirs — a new long-range conservation and recreation program — expansion of our superb national parks and forests (and) preservation of our authentic wilderness areas."

Jan. 11, 2007: "There Will Be Blood" is released. The film stars Daniel Day Lewis as a ruthless California oil baron in the early 20th century.